Work Book: All Things Lead Generation | RealEstateStrategyLab.com | By: Jeff Coga and Jason Jerzewski

 

ALL THINGS LEAD GENERATION

* Motivated Home Sellers *

For you to turn a property lead into a successful closing, you need to be dealing with a

highly motivated home seller. This is the key principle that will determine your level of success

as in flipping houses for fast cash.

You should ONLY work with property owners whose number one goal in life right now is

to sell their piece of property. They are often dealing with a time-sensitive circumstance, as

well as financial and emotional stress.

Some examples of these situations are:

1) They’re having difficulty making their mortgage payments: This is a big reason people may need to sell. While finding these people isn’t obvious, some indicators are delinquent taxes, bankruptcy, and houses in great disrepair. What happens if they continue to not make their payments? The bank forecloses, they lose their home, and they’re thrown into a world of financial trouble. Their best option may be to sell and sell fast.

2) They’ve inherited a home they do not want or

cannot afford: Often the best solution for heirs of an estate that contains property is to liquidate the property quickly. This is simply because cash could help them more than suddenly owning an extra house.

3) They’ve recently divorced and want to sell: No one plans on getting a divorce but,

unfortunately, situations can change. Often, the house becomes the responsibility of one individual who cannot make the payments by him/herself.

4) They’re moving and need to sell fast: Work or family situations cause people to

have to move in a hurry. In this case, selling quickly is usually essential.

5) Their house simply won’t sell: Many sellers see their houses sit week after week, month after month on the market with little interest. When their agreement expires with their listing agent, they’re forced to figure out what to do next. Just listing it again is a costly and poor decision.

6) They’re tired landlords: Many landlords who have dealt with a series of problem tenants are simply fed up with the headaches and ready to sell their properties.

7) They own a vacant house: Houses can be vacant for many reasons, and we’ve

found that owners of these houses are often willing to negotiate a sale.

The very best lead you could get is one where the owner is in one of the above

categories, has a lot of equity in the property (equity is the difference between the market value

of the property and the amount the owner owes on his/her mortgage), and needs to sell right

away.

For people in situations such as these, you are the fastest, easiest solution, and they’ll be

thanking you for helping them out!

* Finding Motivated Sellers *

You may already know of friends, family members, or co-workers who you could help.

Great! Let them know today! But because we all have a limited number of direct contacts, you

have to do some work to find other property leads.

Now, this work is going to take some time – and possibly some

money – but everything worthwhile in life seems to take a little of

both. Because the resources you can commit will be different

from investor to investor, I’ll provide a number of marketing

options to choose from.

I just mentioned a key term, and that’s marketing.

This is an essential concept to understand. Without

marketing (i.e. getting the word out), no one will know

that you’re here to help!

The fact is that there are a lot of highly motivated sellers out there, but they just don’t

know whom to call. So we have two options:

1. You can try to track these people down aka “Hunting Method”

You Can Eat NOW But…You’re always looking for your next meal aka chasing!

OR

2. You can let them find us aka “Farming Method”

UPFRONT work but plant your seeds and watch the farm grow aka NEVER go hungry!

Both strategies work, but it’s generally easier to let motivated

sellers find you than for you to track them down. And how do they find

you? MARKETING, MARKETING, MARKETING!

One note: you should only want to deal

directly with homeowners. If a property is listed

with a real estate agent, please ignore it. They are

working hard for their money, so you don’t want to step

on any toes.

Let’s talk about some different marketing ideas. Some of these strategies will require an

understanding of the ideal types of neighborhoods and properties that result in most of our

deals.

We find most of our properties in blue collar neighborhoods single families from $140k-

$350k and multi-families $225k-$450k we buy where the majority of homes are 20 years old or

older. Our ideal property is typically 3-bedroom/1-bath or 5-bedroom/3-bath, between 1200 and

3000 sq ft. The home will typically be in need of a good deal of repair or cleanup.

If you have a property in mind, but it doesn’t exactly fit the

ideal specifications that’s fine! Deals come in all shapes and

sizes, get it under contract!

You’ll be surprised on what type of properties investors and

hedge funds will buy! If you have more questions leave a comment

in the membership site and myself, Jason, or other members will

be able to help you out.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure to track the phone calls by using some type of

tracking system. This tracking system will allow you to run “re-targeted” ads, voice

broadcast, text blast, etc to get in front of the sellers again.

I’ve labeled each of the following strategies with icons denoting the time and money

investments they require.

- Flyers -

These are a fantastic (and inexpensive) way to spread the word. Along with the welcome

email you received, there is a link to a marketing flyer. Feel free to print it out as many times as

you’d like. Use neon paper (orange, yellow, or green) that draws attention from a distance.

Hand it out to neighbors, post it at public bulletin boards, drop it off at laundromats, bus stops,

coffee shops, etc.

- Business Cards -

These you can pass out to everyone you meet, leave them at restaurants, put them in

your bills that you send off when you pay them, etc. Try setting a goal of handing out 5

business cards per day.

Feel free to design and print your own business cards or use a service like

www.vistaprint.com. The message on the card should be similar to the message on the flyer.

It’s basically your flyer in pocket form.

Remember that all it takes is one card to make you $4,000, $10,000, and over $20,000+!

[SAMPLE BUSINESS CARDS ON NEXT PAGE]

SAMPLE BUSINESS CARDS:

TIP: Print up some business cards. Print them on bright neon green card stock and

have them read like this… I used these exact business cards in my business when I

first started. I learned this from my early mentor. Works like a charm! Now I use a

different business card to raise capital.

GOAL: DO NOT GET CAUGHT UP ON THE DESIGN. THE GOAL IS TO GIVE OUT THE

CARDS. COOL DESIGN CARDS THAT ARE NOT IN A SELLERS HAND IS USELESS!

- Bandit Signs -

You’ve probably seen them driving down the road. They are the ones that say something

like “I BUY HOUSES” or “STOP FORECLOSURE.” These signs work very well. They cost

around $1 to $2 each depending on where you buy them and how many you buy.

There are a lot of companies that make these signs. Here are a few online sources:

www.banditsigns.com

www.signwarehouse.com

www.signssupercheap.com

www.dirtcheapsigns.com

Many online sites require a minimum amount (50 or 100), so you can check with local

sign shops if you want less.

The most effective signs are 18” x 24” plastic corrugated and hand-written. You want a

simple message such as “I’LL BUY YOUR HOUSE TODAY! CASH!!” or “SELL YOUR HOUSE

FAST” and a phone number (MAKE SURE TO TRACK THIS!).

They should have white or bright colored background and dark lettering. Make sure the

phone number is big enough that people can read it as they drive by, but the signs should be

placed near intersections where people have to slow down or stop.

You should also draw a map and keep track of the locations of your signs. Check with

the city/county before putting them out. In most areas, you can put them out Friday evening and

take them down Sunday evening.

[SAMPLE BANDIT SIGNS ON NEXT PAGE]

SAMPLE BANDIT SIGNS

CASE STUDY BANDIT SIGNS

TIP: Put signs in front of all of your

rehab projects!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Marketing is always about tweaking and testing. Sometimes I try

weird marketing tactics. Sometime it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Below is one we

tested that failed. Can you guess why?

TIP: Put signs in front of ALL of your

rental properties as well!

- Internet Scanning –

Websites such as www.craigslist.org, www.foresalebyowner.com, and

www.backpage.com have motivated sellers posting their houses all the time! Look for key

words such as motivated, must sell, and FSBO.

We Have A New Book We Are Going To Release In A Few Weeks

Get On Waiting List

www.FlippingHousesToWallStreet.com/fh2w-bonus

- Newspaper Scanning -

You already read the Sunday paper, so just take a few more minutes to scan the houses

for sale. Again, look for key words like motivated, must sell, and FSBO.

- Direct Mail -

We send letters to homeowners in pre-foreclosure, bankruptcy, property tax delinquency,

and other situations. We get tremendous response from our mailers. Sending mail simply

requires:

Pulling a list from a trusted online source

Cleaning the list based on our criteria

Merging the list with our pre-written letters

Folding, stuffing, addressing, stamping, and sending the letters

[SAMPLE DIRECT MAIL ON NEXT PAGE]

TIP: GRAB ALL OF THE LOCAL

NEWSPAPER AND SCAN THE

CLASSIFIEDS SECTION.

IMPORTANT NOTE: THESE ARE JUST SAMPLE MARKETING PIECES WE HAVE USED IN

OUR OWN BUSINESS. PLEASE COMPLY WITH LOCAL RULES AND REGULATIONS.

Below is the collection of our most successful and not so successful direct mail done by

my students and me. This collection is called a “swipe file” (See What Wiki Says). A

Swipe file is a collection of tested and proven advertising and sales letter. Keeping and

using a swipe file (templates) is the easiest way to run a successful campaign.

http://www.flippinghousestowallstreet.com/direct-mail-swipe

- Door Hangers -

This is a great strategy that gets strong response simply because homeowners cannot

miss them. Door hangers can be purchased from www.doorhangers.com .

You’ll want two-sided hangers, preferably in color. The front should be

vivid and attention-grabbing with a brief headline. The back should provide all

the details about who and how we can help, along with contact information.

Again, use the above flyer as a template for the information on your hangers.

The perfect time to distribute door hangers is mid-day when most people are at work.

You may want to use a map to keep track of the areas you have covered. Be sure to take note

of the ideal neighborhood and property profile described

above.

- Driving for Dollars -

Do you know of any vacant or “distressed” homes

on in the area? Simply write down the address and a brief

description of the home, snap a quick photo, then submit

the information to us the next time you’re behind a

computer.

Do you drive the same route to work every day? Try alternative routes and stay on the

lookout for houses that match our ideal property profile! Some common symptoms are

overgrown yards, rusted cars in the yard, FSBO signs, broken windows, etc.

If ALL the properties in the area exhibit the above symptoms, it’s not a good sign. But if

it’s a single house surrounded by several decent houses, you may be looking at a deal. The

common rule in real estate is to find “the worst house in the best neighborhood.”

How about garage sales? These happen every

weekend in the summer and often signify that the

homeowner is moving. Simply stopping by and asking if

they’ll be selling their house – or if they know of any

neighbors who may be interested in doing so – can result in

some solid leads.

It’s a good idea to print out several of the lead sheets

at the end of this guide. Then when you run across a

vacant, distressed, or available home as you’re out & about,

just fill in as many blanks on the sheet as you can.

BIG IDEA: Have pre-written letter, stuffed in an

envelope with a stamp in your vehicle. When you see a

house that is “the worst house in the best neighborhood”,

just write the address on the envelope and just drop it off in

the mail.

As you can see, there are a number of marketing options

available, and there’s an option for every budget and time

commitment. And by no means is this list exhaustive! If you can

think of new, creative ways to find motivated sellers, just let us

know in the membership area.

The important thing to keep in mind with each of these strategies is that you’re not

spending time and money, you’re investing it with strong potential for great return.

This is guide should have provided you with everything you need to get started right

away. The biggest threat to your success at this point is “analysis paralysis” or overanalyzing to

the point where you don’t take any action.

UGLY consistent marketing will OUTPERFORM any Perfect marketing campaign!

DON’T WAIT. PICK A CAMPAIGN AND RUN TO THE FINISHLINE!

I want you to be successful, and we’ll equip you as best we can with the tools and

strategies to do so! Take action and make it happen!

Live Free,

Jeff Coga

The Mad Scientist

@ RealEstateStrategyLab.com